Leonakd paget



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

L. PAGET.

STORAGE BATTERY. N0. 183.57%. Patented Nov. 27, 1888.

[M18 8N 5 g (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

L. PAGET.

STORAGE BATTERY.

Patented Nov. 27

9&1 M c] Havana, 8

this specification.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEONARD PAGET, OF TR EN'ION, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE M AGRAEON STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STORAGE-BATTERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 393.573. dated November 2'7. 1 889. Application filed May 8, 1888. Sean No. 213.165. .(No modolJ To all? whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONARD PAGET, aciti zen of the United States, residing at Trenton, in the conntyof Mercer and State of N cw Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improve ment in Electric StorageBatteries, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in storagebatteries in which the active material is applied to one of the electrodes, while the other electrode is of what is known as the Plant type.

The objects of my invention are, first, to ob t-nin a porous positive electrode .ailording rend y exit for the gases developed thereon and an even circulation of the electrolyte through it; second, to construct a negative electrode in such mannerthat the supportingframc shall present a minimum amount of absorbent surface, one that the greater portion of the support for the active material shall not he directly exposed to the electrolyte, thereby preventing the development of hydrogen on the surface of the frame, instead of the red need lead, and avoiding the development of false cleetro-motivc force attained at the surface of the electrode or plate during the process of charging. It is the further object of this form of support to more securely hold the active material.

An additional object of my invention is an improved electrolyte which gives much more rapid formation of the positive plateor electrode than is possible with a plain lead electrode suspended in an electrolyte of dilutesulphuric acid.

It is the further object of my inventionto increase the capacity and rates of charge and discharge of the battery, as well as to make it more durable.

I accomplish these objects by the apparatus and means hereinafter described, but particu larly pointed out in the claims which follow At the outset I desire it to be understood that by the term negative electrode or plate I mean that electrode or plate which is to be reduced by the chargingcuc rent,c'omnionly and erroneously known as the positive plate, and by the term positive electrode or plate I mean the lead plate which it is desired to peroxidize, commonly and erroneonsly known as the negative plate.

My invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fignre 1 is aside elevation of my improved negative plate, showing the active material in position in the left side thereof, and the retaining grids or bars for holding such active material in the right-hand side thereof, the active material being removed, so as to show them. Fig. 2 is a horizontal crossscctiou on line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section on line 3 3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a similar side elevation of the positive or lead plate. Fig. 5 is an end elevation of said lead plate, showing one of the suspended strips broken away at the bottom; and Fig. 6 isadetail view showing a part of the strips separated from each other in such manner as to disclose their internal or surface portions.

I will first describe the negative pole-plate or electrode shown in Fig. 1. I cast the rmining-plate A. of pure lead, in the shape of a frame having the usual contact lugs or cars, E E, and cross bars a a b b. which divide the frame into sections for holding the active ina teriahwhile an additional set of cross-bars, c

-c, are at the same time cast with the frame,

but at a lower or depressed level than the firstnamed crossbars ac bl). The active material F, of the usual type, is pressed intothe reetangnlar spaces on both sides of the plate, as clearly shown on the left-hand side of Figs. 1 and 2, in such manner as to ,entirely fill said spaces. It will be seen that by this arrange ment all of the snstaininghnrs c are entirely embedded in the active material, the only portion of the frame exposed to the electrolyte being the ribs a b and the end and bottom ribs, and even this surface may be reduced to a minimumby making the ribsaic and ,b b V- shaped, as will be understood".

I have found by experiment that with elec trodes or plates in which portions of the supporting frame are largely exposed with the active material there results local action, as well as deleterious efleets, due t'ohnokling,by virtue of the expansion and contraction of such ex posed parts, and my improvement avoids these difficulties by presenting a-ininimuin surface of such parts. The ribs 0. b may be covered by wooden, vulcanilc, or glass strips, as is usual in storage batteries where it is desired to separate the positive and negative electrodes. \Vhile I dciine this type of electrode as being of negative form, and prefer to use it with the hereinafter-described positive electrode of the Plaut type, i do not desire to be limited to its use as a negative electrode per .96, as it is obvi' one I might use two such electrodcs-one as the positive and the other as the negative.

The positive electrode (shown in elevation in Fig. 4) is com posed of corrugated lead strips m m, set, as shown, in a suspensory beam of typc-inetal,A, having ears or lugs E E. These strips are prefcrabl y attached to this suspensory beam by being cast into it, and rest one against another, the corrugation of each alter natc Strip producing grooves which run in one direction, while those of the succeeding alternate strips produce grooves which run in the opposite direction, the strips being placed back to back, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. the first set of openings, i, passing from the Iront of the plate to the rear, and the second set, d, passing from the rear to the front, the two sets being inclined locach other at an angle. The suspensory heanl A constitutes the sole sup port of these lend strips, they being entirely free at their lower ends, but always in contact with each other.-

It will be understood upon examining the construction shown in'Figs. e, 5, and 6 that the electrolyte has a positive circulation in both directions through the electrode, and that a maximum surface is 1 btained with a minimum amount of material, while the corrugated strips are so relaxed to each other as to make a comparat vely solid and firm electrode; I have found by experiment that during the process of charging and discharging an elec trode of this nature there is an expansion and contraction ofabouttcn percent. of the normal length oi one of the strips. Were both ends of these strips rigidly fastened, or were they allowed to dangle freely and independent of each other, serious results would follow. I. con struct these corrugated strips in such manner that the corrugations therrof must be equal in width or length to the width of the strip, and the are located at such an angle as to connect the diagonal points of Llnrllomhuid which is formed by them. i lind that a plate or electrode constructed al'ler this manner presents such an enlarged surface that it is rendered much more porous and allows much freer pus sage for the gases and for the interchange ofthe electrolyte than with any ol'lhc known forms with vehich I. am nu unintcd.

1 am uwurctlinl it is old to utilize two clcc trodes of this general corrugated type in a storage-miter the one being positive and the other negative, and lmakeno claim to such feature, broadly, one branch of my invention being directed to the combination of this type of electrode with the negative electrode above described.

I will now describe thcelectrolyte, which is designed especially for the purpose of reducing the positive plate in the quickest possible time. It is composed of dilute sulphuric acid of the proportions of one to five. with ten per cent. of nitrite of ethyl or aoetateof ethyl, the nitrite being more active if acidified with, not more than one per cent. nitric acid, the acetate also with not more than two per cent of acetic acid. I find'that if these proportions are exceeded the plate will be dissolved. immerse the two plates or electrodes in this electrolyte and pass through them a current of electricity sufiiciently powerful to cause a commotion of the solution, it being electrolyzed with a current of from sixto ten amperes per square foot of actual positive poleplate or electrodesurface. There results from this action an exceedingly rapid peroxidation of the positive pole-plate or electrode in the nature or acoherent hard-deposit. I find that an electrode can be peroxidized in this electrolyte in a very brief space of time, whereas with the Plant method and electrolyte of dilute sulphuric acid days and even weeks are required. With my improvement only one charge is required of one and one-half times to twice the ultimate capacity of the plates. The plates are then removed, washed with water, and set up in the usual electrolyte.

Having thus described my invention, what I elai m, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, iS

1. A negative electrode for a secondary or storage battery, consisting of a sustaining frame or plate having the active material held in place in its depressed faces by park: of the frame wholly beneath it substantially as described.

' 2. A negative electrode for a secondary or storage battery, consisting of a plate or frame having the active material packed in sections thereofand wholly embedding the parts which sustain or support it, substantially as de scribed.

3. A negative electrode for a secondary or storage battery, consisting of a. frame having depressed spaces filled with active material, and rigid sustaining-bars wholly buried bencath said active material, substantially as de' scribed.

4. A negative electrode for secondary or storage batteries, consisting of a conductingframe having two or more cross-ribs dividing it into sections,aud aseries of depressed crossbars lying below the level ofsaid ribs for bold ing the active material in place, substantially as described.

5. The combination, in a secondary battery, of apositiveelcctrodc having corrugated oxidizable strips with a negative electrode, consisting of a frame composed of sti tfening GIOSJ- described bars and depressed sustaininghars located portions wholly beneath the surface of the active rnascribed.

terial, substantially as described. LEONARD PAGET.

6. An electrolyte for secondary or storage Witnesses:

batteries, consisting of dilute sulphuric acid,

O. J. KLNTNER, in combination with nitrite of ethyl or its J. F. QUlNN.

enumerated, substantially as deequivaient, in substantially the pro- 

